


no shit, sherlock

by evotter



Series: the adventures of spideychelle [5]
Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Spider-Man - All Media Types
Genre: AU, Endgame AU, Gen, Infinity War AU, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Not Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Compliant, i dont know what this really is, kind of?, peter and dr strange are BROS
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-31
Updated: 2019-08-31
Packaged: 2020-10-03 17:45:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,948
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20456921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/evotter/pseuds/evotter
Summary: “Listen, Mr. Strange.” Peter says hesitantly. “I feel like you’re putting a lot on me. I’m just a kid from Queens. I’m not even out of high school yet. I’d like to graduate without thinking about my impending death or these crazy rainbow stones or anything like that. Not to sound like an asshole, or anything, but all that is out of my pay grade. And I don’t even get paid for doing this stuff.”Dr. Strange bends down until he can meet Peter’s eyes. “It’s a lot to ask,” he says, with a surprisingly gentle tone. “I know. But you can handle a lot more than you think you can. You’ve got a lot of potential, Peter Parker. You think Tony Stark’s the only one who recognized that about you?”(or: peter meeting dr. strange under different circumstances. not endgame/infinity war compliant.)





	no shit, sherlock

**Author's Note:**

> i wanted to write a funny lil thing and then. then it turned into this.
> 
> if you haven't read any of the series yet, you don't REALLY need to? but i would suggest at least reading "meanwhile, in norway" before reading this.

**** Peter’s learned two things when it comes to calls from Tony Stark. One: never, _ ever _send him to voicemail. Two: it’s probably some kind of dangerous mission, which means Peter’s gotta promise May he’ll text her every hour with updates. No excuses.

So when Tony calls in the middle of Peter’s government class, Peter is really glad he shoved that tiny spider thing in his bag. He still doesn’t know what to call it. Bottom line is, it’s cool and it’s got a nanotech suit inside it and he’s got it.

Michelle hears the vibration of Peter’s phone before he does. She jerks her head at his pocket. “Go,” she says, quiet enough that Mrs. Williamson doesn’t hear. “I’ll make something up.”

“How do you know it’s—?” Peter starts.

She narrows her eyes at Peter like he’s an idiot. “No other person would call you during school hours.” she replies. “Honestly. Father figure and he doesn’t give a shit about education hours.”

If they weren’t in class, Peter probably would have kissed her. Instead, he gives her a sheepish smile, shoves his unused notebook back into his bag, and slides his way out of the back of the class. Hopefully, whatever excuse she comes up with isn’t embarrassing.

Then again, who is Peter kidding. It’s going to be embarrassing. He’s going to die.

“Hey—uh, hey, Mr. Stark!” Peter says, throwing his backpack over his shoulder as he puts his phone to his ear. “What’s up?”

“Sorry to call you during class, Pete.” Tony replies. It makes Peter smile a little bit. “But I got something that I need my Spider-baby for.”

Peter makes a noise. “Can you stop calling me that?”

“Not until you turn eighteen. Then my answer will still be no.”

“Okay, well, I’ll make my way over to the facility, then, Mr. Stark.”

“Oh, no need.” Tony answers. The tone of his voice makes Peter extremely wary. “I’m outside the school.”

Peter nearly drops his phone. When he descends the stairs outside, sure enough, there’s Tony Stark, sitting in a bright orange Audi with glasses to match. Seriously. As _ if _he couldn’t be any more blatant about it.

“I wanted to wait until class was over, but we’re kind of on a timetable here.” Tony says, pushing the door open for Peter. “You got your suit?”

“Yeah.” Peter says. The spider is in the palm of his hand, deeply black against his pale skin. “So where are we going?”

Tony puts the car in drive and pulls out of the school loop. “You remember Thor mentioning that wizard? Strange?”

“Yeah.”

“Figured I’d pay him a visit. Follow up about his friend Wong.”

Peter blinks. “You found him?”

“Wasn’t hard.” he shrugs like it’s nothing. “He lives here. In the city. Busy guy, though, so that’s why we’re kind of short on time. Put that suit on. I don’t want him knowing your identity.”

Peter knows better than to argue with that. He yanks his sweatshirt off and puts the spider on his chest, tapping it and letting the nanotech crawl over his skin. Now that he’s used to the suit, it kind of tickles. But he’ll never tell Tony that. “So is this, like…just a meeting, or do we have a bone to pick with this guy, or…?”

“For now, it’s just me letting him know that we’re aware he exists.”

“We?”

“The Avengers.” Tony clarifies. “Everyone knows about him.”

“So we’re just going over there to intimidate him.”

Tony slows at a red light and leans over to give Peter a look. “Are you judging me? I feel like you’re judging me.”

“Not at all, Mr. Stark. I would never.”

“You’re such a shit,” says Tony, the car moving forward as the light turns green. “Worse of a shit than I am.”

Peter turns on Tony with wide eyes. “But Mr. Stark,” he says, in his most serious tone, “that’s not possible.”

Tony takes a hand off the wheel to whack Peter, who’s too busy laughing to even feel it. 

=

The car gets parked around the corner from Dr. Strange’s address. Tony lets F.R.I.D.A.Y. auto-park, mostly because he says, “I’m too important to remember how to parallel park,” as the AI takes control of the wheel. When they get out, Peter watches as Tony slides his sunglasses on and then disappears into thin air.

Tony Stark _ disappears _into thin air.

Well, rather, it looks like he falls into the ground. Through the ground. Peter blinks three times and crouches down to remove his mask to rub his eyes. He puts his mask back on and stands up and _ he’s still gone. _

Peter feels like he’s being pranked. “What the hell?”

The wind picks up. Over the top of the car flies a slip of paper that slaps right into Peter’s mask. He pulls it away and studies it, the lenses on his mask zooming in on what’s written on the paper.

_ 177A Bleecker Street. _

That’s Strange’s address. That can’t be a coincidence. He is a wizard after all. And if Wong had known that an entire ship of Asgardians was coming to Norway, then wouldn’t Dr. Strange know if Tony Stark and Spider-Man were coming to his front door? 

Peter folds the piece of paper in his hands and sighs. Looks like he’s going to a wizard’s front door all by himself.

=

When he arrives at the door around the block, the first word that comes to Peter’s mind is _ creepy. _Despite it being springtime with trees in full bloom, the trees around 177A Bleecker Street are bare, with no leaves on the branches. The building itself is like a miniature mansion, with a large circular window above the front door adorned with a strange symbol.

Peter takes one step toward the front door and it swings open.

A man stands in the threshold, dressed in blue robes, boots, and a glowing green pendant shaped like an eye. Around his neck is a cape, its collar swishing despite there being no wind in the area. He looks just as old as Tony, if not a bit older, with grey hair on the sides of his head and an expression that tells Peter he’s seen too much.

“Peter Parker,” he says. He offers a tight smile. “Won’t you come inside?”

Well, so much for keeping his identity a secret.

=

“So, um,” says Peter, still in his suit, but maskless since there’s no point in concealing his face. “Where’s Mr. Stark?”

“No offense, but I don’t trust your mentor as far as I can throw him.” the wizard says, gesturing for Peter to sit down in a worn leather chair. “I already know most of what he’s going to say. I’d rather not listen to it.”

“But you want to talk to me?” Peter sits hesitantly. “Why? It’s not like I have anything to say.”

“Don’t you?” Strange counters. He sits across from him, reaching for a mug on the stool beside his own chair. When he moves his hand, Peter’s gaze zeroes in, his eyes running over the prominent scars across the wizard’s fingers and the back of his hand. “You may be Stark’s ward but I’m sure you’ve got opinions of your own.”

“I’m not his _ ward.” _

“See? An opinion of your own.”

Peter runs a hand through his hair. “Listen, Mr. Wizard—”

“Strange is fine.”

“Okay, Mr. Strange.” he corrects. “We’re just here to let you know that _ we _know you exist.”

“Is that all?” Strange inquires. “Because we’ve known about you for some time. I’ve met Thor, though I’m sure he told you about that in Norway. Wong told me that his brother Loki has decided to take residence on Earth.”

“Yeah. We already got the lecture about that.” Peter replies. He drums his fingers along his knee. “Tony just wants to make sure you’re not going to threaten the Asgardians.”

“You think that’s all Stark wants to tell me?” Strange raises an eyebrow. “Or is that just what he told you?”

Peter blinks. “What do you mean?”

The wizard sets down his mug. He taps the glowing pendant around his neck. “Do you know what this is?”

“Dude, I still don’t even really know who _ you _are.”

Strange ignores his comment and leans forward. “What do you know about the Infinity Stones?”

Peter’s spidey sense sends chills down his spine. “Um,” he says. “Not a lot. They were briefly mentioned last time we did game night. But I know Loki’s scepter had one, and it gave Wanda and her brother powers and, uh, now it’s in Vision’s head. When I was in Norway, Thor told me about his ex-girlfriend having one, like, in her body for a while. Then there’s the one that Cap took down into the ocean in the forties.”

“There are six Infinity Stones within the cosmos.” Strange informs him. “The ones you have identified are the mind stone, the reality stone, and the space stone, in that order. The other three are soul, power, and time.”

He touches his pointer fingers to his thumbs and pulls them across each other in front of his pendant. The glowing green color intensifies, and Peter watches with fascination as the front of the pendant disappears to reveal a small green stone, shaped just like the one in Vision’s forehead.

Peter’s mouth feels dry. “Is that…”

“The time stone,” says Dr. Strange. “My job as a Master of the Mystic Arts is to protect this stone with my life. Each Infinity Stone is dangerous enough by itself, but when all six are combined…”

“Chaos,” Peter guesses. The wizard’s expression tells him all he needs to know. “Okay. I get it. Dangerous stones. Why are you telling me this?”

“Each stone has made a recent appearance in events around the galaxy.” Strange explains. “You explained three of them. My powers were the beginning of the time stone’s use. The soul stone hasn’t been seen in years, but the power stone was almost put in the grasp of a Titan, just a few years ago. A Titan that I, no matter what, cannot let obtain any of the stones under any circumstances.

“If Tony Stark has not been aware of what threat the combined Infinity Stones make, then he’s a bigger fool than I took him for.” he adds. Peter’s fingers clench around his knees. “We’ve lived in a suspiciously long period of peace. It’s only a matter of time before something heads our way. And when it does, we’d all better be prepared.”

“You still haven’t answered my question.” Peter says. He swallows, trying to quell the dry taste in his mouth. “Why are you telling me all this?”

“Stark wants me to see him as a threat.” Dr. Strange replies. “I need him to see me as an ally. If we don’t work together, and this thing comes right at us, we’re doomed. That’s where you come in, Mr. Parker. I need you on my side. If there’s anything I know about your relationship with Tony Stark, it’s that he trusts you completely. Your opinion is valued greatly by him. I need that opinion to be in favor of me, so I can feel more at ease about keeping this universe intact.”

“What happens if I can’t do that?”

“That can’t be an option.”

“Listen, Mr. Strange.” Peter says hesitantly. He spreads his hands and looks down at them, studying the metal shining in the lights of the small mansion’s lamps. “I feel like you’re putting a lot on me. I’m just a kid from Queens. I’m not even out of high school yet. I’d like to graduate without thinking about my impending death or these crazy rainbow stones or anything like that. Not to sound like an asshole, or anything, but all that is out of my pay grade. And I don’t even _ get _paid for doing this stuff.”

Dr. Strange bends down until he can meet Peter’s eyes. “It’s a lot to ask,” he says, with a surprisingly gentle tone. “I know. But you can handle a lot more than you think you can. You’ve got a lot of potential, Peter Parker. You think Tony Stark’s the only one who recognized that about you?”

Before Peter can say anything else, the front door is blown off its hinges. In the doorway stands Iron Man, arm outstretched, the light from the blaster fading as Tony’s faceplate snaps upward. “You dropped me on top of the Avengers Facility,” he says slowly.

Dr. Strange checks the imaginary watch on his wrist. “And you made it back sooner than I thought you would. Impressive.”

“Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t blow your head off.” 

The wizard looks right at Peter. Once again, his expression says everything he doesn’t say.

“Kid.” Tony says, his eyes drifting away from Dr. Strange. “What did I say about keeping your identity a secret, huh?”

“He knew who I was the second I got to his door.” Peter says. “I figured the mask was kinda redundant.”

“Doesn’t mean you should take it off.” his mentor retorts. “Show’s over. Let’s go.”

“You just got here.”

“And I’m done here. I think I made my point.”

Dr. Strange’s expression at Peter reeks of _ I told you so. _“If that’ll be all,” says the wizard. “You should be on your way.”

“Don’t have to tell me twice.” Tony retorts. He slides his faceplate back down. “Let’s get moving, Spidey.”

Peter turns to leave. Before he can, Dr. Strange’s scarred hand catches his arm. “This is a contact of mine who encountered the power stone,” he says quietly. “If you don’t believe everything I’ve told you, reach out to him. I understand it’s a lot to take in, Peter. But I need your trust.”

“Why?” Peter asks, before he can help himself. “Why me, of all people?”

“There are a lot of things I see in you that you cannot see in yourself.” Strange answers. He searches Peter’s eyes for a long moment and then says, “We need you in this fight.”

“C’mon, kid,” says Tony.

“I will find you if you need to speak to me again.” Dr. Strange tells Peter. He lets go of his arm and places a small device in his hand. “Consider reaching out.” Then he leans forward and whispers into Peter’s ear.

“Peter.” Tony says, very insistent. “Let’s go.”

“Goodbye, Mr. Parker,” says Strange. He nods at him. “Until we meet each other again.”

=

“What did he say to you?” Tony asks, the minute they’re back in the car.

Peter has many answers. _ Destruction of the cosmos, _ he thinks. _ Impending doom involving the six most powerful objects in the universe _would be effective. 

But Peter doesn’t want to think about any of that. Instead, he looks out the window, shrugs halfheartedly, and says, “Told me he didn’t feel like hearing your lecture ‘cause he already knew what you had to say.”

Tony is silent for a moment. “That’s it?”

“That’s it.” Peter says. The sick feeling in his stomach tells him he doesn’t like lying to Tony. But before he says anything, he has to find out more. He thinks about the last words Dr. Strange said to him, as quiet as possible, although his words felt loud in the silence of the large room.

_ He goes by the name of Star-Lord. _

=

The last chords of “Don’t Stop Me Now” fade away as the view out of the _Benatar _remains the same: stars and blues and purples across the galaxy. 

“I’d never heard that song before,” muses the raccoon at the front of the ship. “Good one, though.”

“That’s because I’ve never played it before.” Peter Quill replies, removing his hands from the controls to take a look at the tiny Zoom playing music through their homemade speakers. “But _ someone _keeps complaining about my normal playlist, so I had to switch it up a little bit.”

“Your _ playlist?” _inquires the green-skinned alien just above him, lifting her leg to prop it up on the back of Rocket’s seat. “You mean the same six songs over and over again?”

“There are more than six songs.”

Gamora rolls her eyes, slinging an arm over her knee. “Not when you’re traveling around the galaxy listening to them repeatedly, there aren’t.”

“I like your six-song playlist.” Mantis offers, leaning forward in her seat.

Peter shoots a smug grin in Gamora’s direction. “Thank you, Mantis. But it’s more than six songs.”

“I am Groot.”

“Hey!” The smug grin disappears. “Whose side are you on?”

Groot barely lifts his gaze from the video game in his hands. “I am Groot.”

“Not cool, man.” Peter says, as Gamora takes the smug grin for herself. “So not cool.”

“Well, we’re full on gas and we’re bored shitless.” Rocket says. The hybrid experiment turns in his seat to look at Peter. “Where to next, Quill?”

He’s about to reply when a buzzing noise comes from one of the many pockets in his pants. He fishes out the vibrating device; the pager he’d found among his old things, charged up using a makeshift charger that Rocket threw together. 

The symbol on the screen makes his heart drop just a bit.

“Quill?” Rocket repeats. “You with me?”

“Yeah.” Peter says, shoving the device back in his pocket. “Yeah. I got the next round of piloting.”

“Where do you have in mind?” Gamora inquires, studying his expression carefully.

“Um, Earth,” says Peter. 

“Earth?” her eyebrows shoot up. “Any reason?”

“Yeah.” he replies. He punches in the coordinates. “It looks like there’s someone who needs our help.”

_ to be continued. _

**Author's Note:**

> so.... yeah? i think this is turning into. um. a whole new kind of series. that might need a new title lol. thoughts? would you like a guardians & spider-man fic? is this okay? am i doing okay? let me know! thank you all for reading <3


End file.
